VacationSelector
The Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake, Guilin
GuilinThe Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: Guilin by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

Guilin or Siem Reap?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Guilin for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Guilin’s own page.

Choose Siem Reap for

  • culture and sights
  • wellness
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Siem Reap’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Guilin 8, Siem Reap 5: Guilin leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Guilin and Siem Reap are level on 45.
Culture & sights. Guilin 40, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 48 points.
Nightlife. Guilin 30, Siem Reap 42: Siem Reap leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Guilin 88, Siem Reap 40: Guilin leads by 48 points.
Day trips. Guilin 56, Siem Reap 55: Guilin leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Guilin 45, Siem Reap 35: Guilin leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Guilin 45, Siem Reap 30: Guilin leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Guilin 28, Siem Reap 38: Siem Reap leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Guilin 78, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Guilin 30, Siem Reap 32: Siem Reap leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Guilin 40, Siem Reap 60: Siem Reap leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Guilin and Siem Reap.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Guilin
44match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around with your weighting.

Siem Reap
Best match
47match

Wins on culture and sights and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Guilin in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
248 mmrain in the month
14 hdaylight a day

Siem Reap in July

30 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
GuilinSiem Reap

Where the figures come from

Siem Reap has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Guilin: 1991-2020 normals, Guilin (7.6 km from centre). Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureGuilinSiem Reap
Official languagePutonghuaKhmer
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Riel (KHR)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+7
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation153 m18 m
Main airportGuilin Liangjiang International Airport (KWL)25 km from centre43 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureGuilinSiem Reap
City population4,931,137147,866
Museums within 10 km16
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Guilin or Siem Reap somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.